National Lawyers Guild - death penaltyhttp://www.nlg.org/taxonomy/term/171
enGuild Notes: Vol. 40, No. 1 (Spring 2015)http://www.nlg.org/resource/guild-notes/guild-notes-vol-40-no-1-spring-2015
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<p>In this issue:</p>
<p>#BlackLivesMatter: NLG stands in solidarity with movement against racist police violence (p. 8-12)</p>
<ul><li>St. Louis NLG files lawsuit to oust Ferguson prosecutor (p. 9)</li>
<li>NLG-Mass. galvanizes legal community for state-wide #BlackLivesMatter day of action (p. 11)</li>
<li>The Guild supports Walmart employees’ fight for a living wage (p. 5)</li>
<li>National Office launches first-of-its-kind Radical Law Student Manual (p. 14)</li>
<li>Meet the 2015 NLG Haywood Burns Fellows (p. 15)</li>
</ul><p>...and more!</p>
<p><strong><a href="//www.nlg.org/sites/default/files/Guild%20Notes%20Spring%202015%20WEB%20Final%20Final_1.pdf">Download PDF</a></strong></p>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/171" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">death penalty</a> </div>
Tue, 17 Mar 2015 16:01:32 +0000Tasha1651 at http://www.nlg.orghttp://www.nlg.org/resource/guild-notes/guild-notes-vol-40-no-1-spring-2015#comments Call to Action: Urge Florida Governor Rick Scott to Stay the Execution of Robert Henryhttp://www.nlg.org/news/announcements/call-action-urge-florida-governor-rick-scott-stay-execution-robert-henry
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<p align="center"><strong>Call to Action: Urge Florida Governor Rick Scott to Stay the Execution of Robert Henry</strong><br /><strong style="line-height: 1.46667em;"><em>Drug Cocktail Used for Lethal Injection is Cruel and Unusual Punishment</em></strong></p>
<p>National Lawyers Guild (NLG) urges Florida Governor Rick Scott to stay Robert Henry’s execution, scheduled for March 20. Given lack of medical support for a new protocol for lethal injections in Florida, the practice of using Midazolam, a drug not approved by the FDA, appears to be inhumane and in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.</p>
<p>In September 2013, Florida changed its protocol from using barbiturates in step one of its three-step injection process, which put inmates in a state similar to a coma before a second, paralyzing drug is administered. Barbiturate sources have become scarce, however. In response to the drug shortage Florida calls for the anti-anxiety medication Midazolam, which is not an approved substitute for anesthesia. Some anesthesiologists have reports that the drug’s ineffective sedative properties may yield a feeling similar to being buried alive for the individual who received the drug cocktail.</p>
<p>If the recent execution in Ohio is any indication, Robert Henry will endure excruciating pain and suffering, and a sensation of suffocation, until he succumbs to the final lethal injection. Witnesses to the Ohio execution of Denis McGuire last month reported that he choked, snorted, gasped, and struggled until giving way to the chemicals injected into his body nearly 25 minutes after the initial injection. William Happ, the last prisoner executed in Florida, remained conscious for longer than usual after the initial injection, and made more body movements after losing consciousness, according to witnesses.</p>
<p>As long as the state decides to continue the practice of capital punishment, the NLG contends that the process must comport with the law. According to a 2011 Supreme Court of Florida case, <em>Valle v. State</em>, “the condemned inmate’s lack of consciousness is the focus of the constitutional inquiry” as to whether an execution is legal. Robert Henry’s execution will not meet this standard.</p>
<p>While the NLG opposes the death penalty in any circumstance, it is particularly disturbed by this pending execution as a violation of both the U.S. and Florida Constitutions. We call on Gov. Scott to stay the execution of Robert Henry and issue an executive order imposing a moratorium on capital punishment in Florida.</p>
<p><strong><u>Take action to defend the Eighth Amendment.</u> <u>Tell Governor Scott to stop the execution of Robert Henry TODAY!</u></strong></p>
<p><strong>Contact Governor Rick Scott:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Phone: 850-488-7146</li>
<li>Email: <a href="file:///C:/Users/nathan.NLG/Downloads/Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com">Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com</a></li>
<li>Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/@FLGovScott">@FLGovScott</a></li>
<li>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/scottforflorida">facebook.com/scottforflorida</a></li>
</ul><p><strong>Contact Campaign to Stop Robert Henry’s Execution:</strong></p>
<ul><li>Phone: 561-325-9317</li>
<li>Email: <a href="file:///C:/Users/nathan.NLG/Downloads/NoCruelCocktail@gmail.com">NoCruelCocktail@gmail.com</a></li>
<li>Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/SaveRobertHenry">@SaveRobertHenry</a></li>
<li>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SaveRobertHenryFL">facebook.com/SaveRobertHenryFL</a></li>
<li>Petition: <a href="http://bit.ly/RobertHenry">bit.ly/RobertHenry</a></li>
</ul><p> </p>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/435" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Eighth Amendment</a> </div>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/171" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">death penalty</a> </div>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/267" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mass Incarceration Committee</a> </div>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/436" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Call to Action</a> </div>
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 19:20:55 +0000Tasha1082 at http://www.nlg.orghttp://www.nlg.org/news/announcements/call-action-urge-florida-governor-rick-scott-stay-execution-robert-henry#commentsNLG Students Rally for Day Against the Death Penaltyhttp://www.nlg.org/news/blog/nlg-students-rally-day-against-death-penalty
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<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.nlg.org/sites/default/files/styles/full_node/public/images/NYU%20SDADP.jpg?itok=YRjx5smp" width="400" height="300" alt="NYU NLG chalked out the dimensions of a death row cell in the main courtyard in observance of Student Day Against the Death Penalty." title="NYU NLG chalked out the dimensions of a death row cell in the main courtyard in observance of Student Day Against the Death Penalty." /> </div>
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Traci Yoder </div>
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<p>Each year on March 1, NLG student members come together at over 100 law schools across the country for the Student Day Against the Death Penalty (SDADP) a day of education about and protest against capital punishment coordinated by the NLG National Office.</p>
<p>Capital punishment has come under <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/opinion/americas-retreat-from-the-death-penalty.html">growing scrutiny</a> in recent years and 17 states have officially outlawed the practice. Currently, 3,146 people are on death row in the United States, according to the <a href="http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-row-inmates-state-and-size-death-row-year#year">Death Penalty Information Center</a>. More than <a href="http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/DeathPenaltyFactsMay2012.pdf">140 people have been exonerated</a> from death row after evidence of their innocence surfaced.</p>
<p>Public support for capital punishment is at its lowest point in decades. According to a 2011 Gallup poll, the percentage of Americans who approve the death penalty as a punishment for murder is at <a href="http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/public-opinion-gallup-poll-reports-lowest-support-death-penalty-nearly-40-years">its lowest level in 39 years</a>. States including Arkansas, Maryland, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Oregon are in the process of abolishing the death penalty. The latest edition of the <a href="http://www.naacpldf.org/death-row-usa">NAACP Legal Defense Fund's Death Row USA</a> showed a decrease of 43 death row inmates from January 1 to October 1, 2012. While these developments illustrate the tremendous momentum gathering behind abolition, the bleak reality is that over 3,000 people remain on death row. The situation may show gradually improvement, but the need for action continues to be urgent.</p>
<p>SDADP events this year focused not only on the cruel and unusual nature of capital punishment but also on its inconsistent and economically and racially biased application. Students educated the public about the social and psychological impacts the death penalty has on those in the prison system and their families and communities. This year’s events marked 10 years of SDADP. Law school chapters organized panel discussions, debates, film screenings, petitions, letter writing campaigns, and more.</p>
<p>Here is a cross-section of this year’s activities:</p>
<p>The <strong><a href="http://students.law.pitt.edu/nlg/">University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s NLG chapter</a> </strong>set up a booth up where students plugged their fellow classmates in to volunteer opportunities at the local public defender's office, the Human Rights Coalition, and Project Freedom, a local non-profit that focuses on death penalty cases.</p>
<p><strong>Northwestern University Law School NLG</strong> tabled all day, handing out black ribbons, candy, and fact sheets on capital punishment.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.wcl.american.edu/org/guild/">Willamette University College of Law NLG</a></strong> organized a convocation in which two death row exonerees, Juan Melendez and Greg Wilhoit, spoke about life on death row as innocent men and their present-day struggle against injustice in the criminal justice system.</p>
<p><strong>American University Washington College of Law NLG</strong> set up a panel to discuss progress in death penalty abolition with Abe Bonowitz and Anita Grabowski from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Walter Everett of Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, and Shujaa Graham, a death row survivor who spoke on behalf of Witness to Innocence. AU NLG also sent a caravan of cars to Annapolis for the death penalty vote in the State Senate.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://law.lclark.edu/student_groups/national_lawyers_guild_chapter/past_events/">Lewis and Clark Law School NLG</a></strong> coordinated a Week Against the Death Penalty with events including a book display in the library, a death penalty discussion with Oregon Capital Resource Center Director Jeff Ellis, a public phone call with Kevin Cooper, a death row inmate at California’s San Quentin Prison, a wrongful conviction lecture by the Oregon Justice Resource Center, a prisoner letter writing session, and a screening of the documentary <em>West of Memphis</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University NLG</strong> hosted exoneree Nate Fields, who spoke with Marc Bookman, Executive Director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/nlg/">University of Wisconsin Law School NLG</a> </strong>held a tabling event to disseminate important facts about the death penalty followed by a screening of <em>Deadline</em>, a film documenting Governor Ryan’s decision to commute the death sentences of Illinois death row inmates and examining the death penalty’s national history.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.nlgkansascity.org/umkc-law/">University of Missouri, Kansas City NLG</a> </strong>sponsored a letter-writing campaign, tabled to raise awareness, screened the documentary <em>Deadline</em>, and organized a discussion about effective ways to advocate for death penalty abolition.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.law.asu.edu/currentstudents/CurrentStudents/StudentLife/StudentOrganizations/ListofStudentOrganizations/NationalLawyersGuildNLG.aspx">Arizona State University NLG</a></strong> hosted an event with Juan Melendez, a man who served 15 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. ASU NLG also organized a meeting for Arizona Death Penalty Alternatives, inviting law students to help strategize in ongoing efforts to change the law.</p>
<p>These are just a sampling of the many NLG chapter events. The Student Day Against the Death Penalty will continue every year until the death penalty has been abolished once and for all. </p>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/286" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">SDADP</a> </div>
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Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:42:02 +0000Tasha874 at http://www.nlg.orghttp://www.nlg.org/news/blog/nlg-students-rally-day-against-death-penalty#commentsEmergency Resolution In Opposition to the Scheduled Execution of John Ferguson, a Mentally Ill Florida Death Row Inmatehttp://www.nlg.org/emergency-resolution-opposition-scheduled-execution-john-ferguson-mentally-ill-florida-death-row
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Sat, 13 Oct 2012 22:09:01 +0000Tasha770 at http://www.nlg.orghttp://www.nlg.org/emergency-resolution-opposition-scheduled-execution-john-ferguson-mentally-ill-florida-death-row#comments